


Summer Snows in Forgotten Places

by EmeryldLuk



Category: 7 Seeds
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Parents, Gen, Kids, Original Character(s), Sixth Sense, Spiritual, Team Summer B, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22745800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeryldLuk/pseuds/EmeryldLuk
Summary: The only two survivors of Team Winter have lived together somewhat peacefully for fifteen years. Nomads, they have a handful of children and plenty of dogs to keep them company. The peace ends when Aramaki runs into members of Team Summer B during the dry season, bringing with them the reality of other people.
Relationships: Aramaki Takahiro/Original Female Character
Comments: 9
Kudos: 27





	1. We Are Not Alone

My name is Koyuki Arani. I used to be your usual quiet girl, kept to myself and stayed out of trouble. Now I’m something I never imagined in a place I couldn’t have imagined. I spend my time working on clothes, or cooking, or teaching. I don’t have time to be bored. The world is too dangerous to spend any time daydreaming, yet sometimes I do.

“Mom!” the brown haired girl ducked under my arm from behind as I smoothed out a lizard’s skin. “Look what I found.” She held up a rock that glittered with green. “Isn’t it pretty?”

I took the rock and turned it over. “Very, Ginali, but what would we do with it?”

“I just thought it would look nice. As decoration, right?”

I smiled, remembering what it was like to have those thoughts. I gave her back the rock and smoothed a hand over her French braid. “Oh, that would be lovely, but you know we’ll be moving on as soon as the rains begin. The extra weight is not worth it and you know it.”

She pet the glittering rock. “True. Unless we make Maki carry it.”

“The answer is no. Go put it back.”

“Yes, Mom.” She drooped, running over the parched ground around the side of the bluff. There were no trees, no bushes, nor grass. Only dry cracked dirt and rocks that rolled in the way the ground would if riddles with plants. A small cave entrance led into the bluff where I knew I could find a source of water long time parched. With or without the rainy season, they would have to move on soon with the spring here almost gone. I scanned the area and bit my lip.

“Maki?” I called into the air. “Maki?” Lazing in the shade of several leather skins, my dog, Arrow, picked his head up, ears wiggling. “Maki!” I yelled even louder. Pebbles tumbled down the side of the bluff.

“I’m up here,” the boy with light brown hair yelled.

“I called three times,” I chided.

“Sorry,” he apologized.

“Come on down, I don’t want you running off.”

“But we’re having fun.”

I squinted at him. “We?”

“Jyani and Ginali. There’s some shiny rocks.”

“Stay in earshot. I don’t want to go searching for you three.”

“Yes, Mom,” he agreed, disappearing once more over the top. I looked down to my work, strips of leather laid out on the waist high boulders.

None of this had seemed possible fifteen years when I first met Aramaki. There had been more of us then. Five teenagers and one adult who survived an apocalypse just because the government chose us. Our guide and one other died in the first month when some sort of large cat attacked. I got separated from the others in a flash flood. It was months later when I finally found Aramaki, who was taking care of two puppies orphaned by the winter. Fubuki, I learned, had been killed by that same cat and Mitsuru killed herself out of grief. Then it was just me, Aramaki and the dogs. Until Jyani came along.

With gleeful screams, the three kids raced by, followed by a gray and white adult dog and a younger dark gray dog. I checked on them only to make sure they were not in any danger.

Howling then could be heard from far off. I looked around as Arrow sat up and howled in return. I bent my head, diligently sewing. When I reached the end of the seam, I tied off the strip and cut it with my knife. Then I got to my feet and gathered up all the extra materials. Arrow sniffed as I walked over.

“Shush,” I hushed. “How are my babies?” two toddlers lay curled up together at his side, thankfully still sleeping. Arrow smiled, tail slapping at the ground. I scratched behind his ear. “Good,” I said, hoping Aramaki managed to find us food. I stood back up and saw him, walking with his dogs around him and three strangers behind him. That struck me and I rubbed my eyes, but the humans remained.

“I’m back,” he said to me.

I covered my mouth with one hand, still staring at the strangers. Two boys, both with dark hair though one taller and the other with more muscle. A girl trailed behind them, her head down. “You found people,” I finally blurted.

He laughed. “Yes, I found people.”

“Actual people?”

“We ain’t aliens if that’s what you mean, lady,” the taller of the boys sneered. I frowned, getting the sense that this guy was anything but nice.

“Talk to me like that again, young man, and I’ll make you regret it,” I scolded him. He blinked. I turned back to Aramaki. “Did you get food? People are nice, but we can’t eat them.”

He held up three large fish. “How could I forget with Jyani nagging in my ear all day? Where are they anyway?”

I took the fish out of his hand. “The twins are sleeping with Arrow. The others have been running around for most of the afternoon.” Ducking inside the cave for a moment, I dragged out a roll of lizard skin and laid it out on the ground. Two knives rolled out from the inside. Aramaki piled up a few branches from the stockpile and started the fire while I gutted the fish. I motioned to the ground with one knife. “You three might as well sit down.”

“So, your group has a pair of twins?” the second boy asked, gingerly taking a place around the fire. “That’s odd isn’t it?”

“Not if you consider they’re only a year and three months old right now.” I speared the first of the fish on a stick and handed it off to Aramaki.

“Babies?” the girl squeaked.

“Yes. Babies. Is that surprising?”

“Well, Aramaki said there were others, he just didn’t say anything about kids.”

Aramaki explained, “I didn’t know what to say. We haven’t seen anyone else in so long. Team Winter is just her and me. The others are all our kids.”

“What?” the taller boy nearly lost his jaw. “So the two of you just went with the last people on earth deal and banged eachother?”

A handful of fish intestines hit him in the face. He yelped, wiping away at his skin until nothing was left. Aramaki looked at me sideways. I shrugged, twirling my knife between my fingers.

“That was a waste of bait,” he said to me, indicating the intestines on the ground.

“You know Batsu will eat it happily, as he is.” She pointed out the puppy climbing over the boy’s leg to get at the scraps. “He’s disrespectful and I warned him.”

“That is not what you warned me about,” the boy whined.

“Oh, should I have thrown the knife instead? I was considered a weapon master even as a teenager.”

“Uh, no, we’re good.”

Aramaki sighed. “You can quit scaring him. Are you done gutting those two fish?”

I staked the two fish and handed them over. “Fine. I’m done.” Wiping the knife down, I rolled up the mat of skin and went to tuck it back into the cave.

“Quite the group,” the second boy commented. “Honestly, we were expecting adults, not a family.”

“A family is not exactly what we planned either in the beginning.” Aramaki smiled at me as I came back. “We were barely more than kids ourselves, trying to survive. Things happen.”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. You were just thinking of being able to play baseball again,” I snipped. He turned red and ducked his head. I leaned back. “You’ll need an open space without the threat of predators, proper clothes and a bat for one besides needing at least a dozen people to play.”

Arrow barked quickly followed by a soft whine from one of the toddlers which of course the other one started to wail. I got back up to my feet, scooping up the cranky boys with both arms. Arrow dogged my heels as I walked away from the camp.

I fell asleep along with the kids, all five of them curled up around me. When I woke in the morning, the strangers were gone.


	2. No Longer Alone

When Aramaki didn’t return right away, I thought something had happened to him while out looking for the puppies. However, I couldn’t go look for him. The rains had begun, making the forest outside the cave that much more dangerous. In the morning, I had the kids gather everything up to move. Instead of carrying the twins like I normally did, I adjusted the pack so Jyani could carry them and I strapped on the supplies that Aramaki would have taken.

Most of the younger dogs had stayed with us over the night. Aramaki’s usual pack had left shortly after him when there was a sharp whistle. I pulled out Aramaki’s old baseball cap and held it out for Arrow to sniff.

“Find Aramaki,” I said. “Find Dad.” Arrow stuck his nose to the ground and started walking.

“Why do we all have to go?” Ginali complained. “You can take Arrow and Jyani and I can protect Maki and the twins. I don’t want to leave again.”

I answered, “And if something happened while I was out looking for your Dad? I would hate myself for not watching over the five of you. Just like with Rishi. You do remember what happened with him?”

“But that wasn’t your fault. We were all there. He was always getting into dangerous situations. We aren’t like that. We’ll stay in the cave.”

“No,” I refused. “If we find Aramaki quickly, we can come back and settle back in. But if he had some reason to go further, I want all of you with me. And Safe. Come on. We’ve done this at least three times a year.”

“If Ginali gets eaten by a dinosaur,” Maki asked, “can I have her knife.”

I rolled my eyes. “Start walking, Junior. You will get your own knife when I feel you can avoid hurting yourself or anyone else with it by accident.”

“Aww,” he whined. I took his hand and pulled him along as we followed Arrow. Winter trotted ahead and joined the scouting line while the other dogs spread out in the foliage around us.

With the sun climbing higher, we kept on moving. Arrow and Winter could have moved faster as could I, but Jyani wouldn’t have been able to run with the weight of two twenty pound kids on her back. So, we continued on. The leaves dripped noisily from the night’s downpour.

It was long past noon when the dogs started pacing in circles, whining. I looked behind me, wondering if Aramaki passed us earlier. Then a couple of the other dogs set up a bark from in front of us. Arrow darted off for a moment and then came back as if to beckon us onward.

We crested a hill and saw a small settlement. Though not well built, there were a couple buildings, a bath area and a crop section. I spotted a couple people moving about and motioned the kids back.

Maki peeked around me. “There are people? Why are we hiding?”

“Silly,” Ginali said, “they could be anyone. Maybe they just look like people. Like the dinosaurs only look like plants sometimes.”

“I bet if you let Mom explain, she’ll tell you, Ginali,” Jyani interjected with a fake gag. “No need to invent weird ideas on the spot.”

Ginali shot, “It’s not weird. What’s weird is that you don’t question anything.”

“Girls.” I said, cutting off their argument before it even started. “First off, only dinosaurs disguise themselves as plants. People are people, but there is such a thing as good people and bad people. I need to find out which kind these are before I let you get close.” I sighed. “Stay here, stay down. I am going to go take a look around.”

“But, Mom,” Maki started to whine.

“That’s final and you know it,” I cut with a raised hand. I untied my load, shedding down to just my leather vest, pants and belt knife. Watching me from over Jyani’s shoulder, the one on her right let out a whimper.

I leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I’ll be fine, Tio. Mom has to keep you safe.”

“Nothing will happen to us,” Jyani assured. “You’ll be back before anyone gets too bored, I’m sure.”

“You got that right. Back in a wink.” I crouched and snuck down the slope. The ground squelched under my boots. I ducked behind a tree as a man with long hair and a monkish posture walked by. I slipped around to the back of the main building. It seemed well crafted for an amateur attempt. Two girls stood chatting out in front. I dug up a small pebble out of the soft dirt and lobbed it hard over the building. They stopped talking as it bounced across the dirt. I swung around the corner and dove inside.

Four blankets lay out in one alcove and two in the opposite corner. Somewhat out of sight behind the wall in the alcove, a fifth blanket lay over something long. Shelves built into the wall held a variety of books on plants and farming and architecture. A jacket hung from the ceiling, still damp. I fingered the material, wondering why it hung inside and not out in the sun.

“What’s with the kids?” I heard someone say outside. I peeked out the doorway. The two girls still stood in front of the building, both facing away. The man I saw earlier with black hair was guiding Ginali and Maki towards them.

“I found them up on the hill, hiding in the bushes,” the man answered. “I tried to ask them their names, but they seem rather wary of us.”

“Well, aren’t kids supposed to be wary of strangers?” the girl on the left quipped, walking out. “But they seem a bit young to have been part of one of the teams.”

I drew a knife from my boot. Maki glared defiantly at the girl as she crouched in front of him. Ginali was scanning her surroundings.

“What’s your name, cutie?” the girl asked with a sweet smile. “Are your parents around?”

Ginali spotted me and poked Maki. He looked at her and then searched for what she was staring at.

Confused, both the girl and man looked back. I took my last step and grabbed the second girl. My left hand came around, cupping her chin and pulling back to my shoulder.

“Hana!” the man yelled, jolting forward. I put my knife at Hana’s throat.

“Don’t move any closer,” I threatened. Hana twisted, trying to grab at my face. I slammed the hilt of the knife into her hip. “And don’t even try that.”

“What do you want?” The girl asked.

“First off, get away from my kids.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Back the fuck off.” I dug my fingers into Hana’s skin. Slowly they both back stepped a few feet. “Maki, is Jyani safe?”

Maki grinned. “It was her idea.”

“Good.” I frowned as I saw a child and light haired teenager appear from the path on the left. “Who are you people?”

The man held up a hand, motioning the others to stay back. “We’re team spring. I am Tsunomata. Are you team Autumn or Summer?”

“Is this everyone in your team?”

“No,” he replied. “We have one other who is checking the fields and a member who is asleep. What is your name?”

“Koyuki. Just seven of you?”

“Yes,” the girl insisted. “Please, let Hana go. We don’t mean you or your kids any harm.”

“Then where’s Aramaki?” I yelled. “I followed him here, so where is he?”

“Aramaki went back for his group,” Hana said. “He isn’t here right now.”

“So, he just stayed the night here and left?”

“He helped me last night. So, yes, we let him sleep here. And then he told us about his partner, the only other survivor of team winter. So, he took his dogs and left. Please.”

I let go of her. She stumbled away, holding her throat. I sheathed the knife and Maki ran over to wraps his arms around my legs.

“Did we do good?” he asked.

I picked him up. “Except for the part about being found, yes. Ginali, please go tell Jyani Dad backtracked.”

Ginali nodded, running off towards the trees. I hoisted Maki onto my shoulders. Tsunomata put one arm around Hana’s shoulders.

“That’s it?” he inquired.

“It is only when faced with imminent danger that truth can be found under the human mask,” I responded. “Is it not natural to know who I am dealing with before all else?”

“You could have left out threatening my life,” Hana snapped, striding forward. “You are a horrible person.”

“And you were never in any such danger. Not from me. None of you have the feel of a killer.”

“The feel of a killer?” Hana nearly started yelling, but then it seemed that all her steam just evaporated. “Are you kidding me? How are you and Aramaki even together? He’s so nice and you’re just mean.”

“My mom is not mean,” Maki growled. “You’re mean.”

“Excuse me? I am the victim here. Your mom, put a knife to my throat and threatened my friends.”

Maki thought about that and then looked at me. “Mom, what are friends?”

“Friends are what we call people we like to spend time with. Like how you and the girls play together, that would be considered being friends,” I explained. “Your Dad and I are friends as well.”

“Oh. Does that make Ace my friend?”

“Absolutely.”

Running back, Ginali waved her arms in the air. “We found Dad!” she yelled. I shifted my gaze past her and saw the dogs milling about. “We found Dad,” she repeated, running straight to me. “He nearly started crying and was muttering something about someone named God. I think he missed us.”

I waited for Aramaki to join us, the pack I had discarded over one of his shoulders and Jyani next to him with the twins on her back. He grinned at me. “Did you do what I think you did?”

I scowled. “You ran off in the middle of the night. How the hell am I supposed to keep the kids safe if I have to do everything on my own?”

“By questioning the first friendly people we find?”

“How was I to know they were friendly?”

“You could have just asked them,” he said. I clamped my mouth shut. He shook his head. “Anyway, they have offered to let us stay with them. It will be better than what we’re used to.”

I looked around the place. “Won’t that make it a bit crowded?” I counted on my fingers. “Seven of them, you, me, five kids, plus all the dogs.”

“The only time we’re all together is at night and meals,” the girl from before said. “It would mean making some rearrangements to the sleeping quarters if you and Aramaki want some privacy.”

“Oh, no, no,” Aramaki and I chorused. The members of team Spring stared at us.

I added on, “We’re not like that. I don’t know how to explain it, but we are not together.”

“Oh,” she said. “Then I’m sure there won’t be any problems. By the way, I’m Fujiko. The two over there are Haru and Nobita. Our last two members are Chisa and Hibari.”

I lifted Maki over my head and put him on the ground. Aramaki gestured as he introduced the kids. “This one is Jyani, our oldest. The other girl is Ginali and the boy is Aramaki Junior though we just call him Maki. And lastly, the twins, Tio and Riku. Don’t ask me which is which. The only one able to tell is Koyuki.”

I sighed, touching my hair. “Tio is on the left. Riku is on the right. You know, they will totally use that against you when they become Jyani’s age.”

“Oh, do we have everyone here?” We all looked to the tall light haired girl climbing up from the river with mud on her hands. “Oh, my. You didn’t say there would be so many children.”

Fujiko smiled. “Chisa, you missed the introductions. This is the other member of Team Winter, Koyuki.”

Chisa dipped her head. “A pleasure. Would you like help settling in?”

I nodded, startled by her easy going attitude. “That would be great. Oh, Jyani, I’ll take the twins now. I’m sorry you had to carry them all day.”

Jyani walked over and held still while I carefully lifted the toddlers out of the pack. She allowed, “It was no problem. Besides, I’ll have to carry my own children like this in a few years, right?”

“So, we’re having those kinds of thoughts now?” I smiled. “Well, we can discuss that later.”

Chisa went into the building behind us. “I think we can set you up in the corner over here,” she explained as I followed her inside.


End file.
